happyhappyhappy: we love traveling

these things make us happy when traveling:



seeing the christus at temple square in salt lake city:

two little ladies taking advantage of a spectacular city view from their own private balcony perch:

a beautiful fall night:

& LOTS OF LOVE between cousins:

mia's "wink" :

things that make mindi extremely happy while traveling?


a priceless blogging opportunity realized while watching an extremely affectionate/pda-filled poolside massage:

and then actually getting the guts up to talk to them afterwards--while being informed multiple times that the spray bottle is "full of ICE WATER, dahhhling! and he mists me! with ICE WATER!":

mia + a bunch of smiley-face balloons = LOVE

when we went to put out megan's signs for the marathon the other day we started with 40 smiley-face balloons.


what could be better?

oh, wait--the only way it could be better is if you are doing the "ROCK ON!" sign.

(note to reader: entirely HER idea. her mother had no clue it was coming. but she was pleased, nonetheless....:)

encouragement. OR i made a shit-ton of signs for megan's marathaon

when my baby sister told me that she was running the marathon, i knew that i wanted to do something to help encourage her.

an idea hatched inside my (smallish) brain: what if there were a number of posters with different song lyrics that meant something to her, and they were strewn all along the marathon course in succession?


& so it began--


i hadn't really planned on doing as many as i did. but the idea seemed to grow, much like a fungus. only more musically-savvy.


i asked her to give me a list of songs that she's always loved or that she currently loved, and i started busting out my stash of ginormous sharpies every night. (they smell so good!!)



we started about mile 14 with THIS song:

of course, there HAD to be THIS song:

& THIS song:

we also paid tribute to the man who has an insane gift for saying his own name in each of his songs (x 3):

we ended with THIS song:

by roughly mile 23, we pulled out the big guns--

madeleine & baby cole would certainly entice her a few steps further:

as well as our catties:

(btw: megan HATES dave & martin. she has never even held those wonderful, loving little felines--which is the real tragedy in our books. we thought this might make her smile.)

neal as a naughty boy-scout leader was REAL MOTIVATION:

& we ended with the best card in our deck:

all in all, it was a lot of work, but worth every moment. i love all of my sisters and would do anything for them--i know that megan felt me cheering her on.


while wishing somebody would put her down like a horse ready for the glue factory about mile 18.....





i AM retiring my poster skillz for a short while, though--my hand hurts.

and i was ruhhhhnniiinnnngggg: megan marchant runs the stg marathon and we REJOICE!

the st. george marathon has been a natural part of october for as long as i can remember.

perhaps it's because i remember going to see my dad cross the finish line back in the early 80's and have the image scarred into my brain of his friend who finished in a white t-shirt.


which was SOAKED BY HIS BLOODY NIPPLES. (really.)



all kidding aside, it's probably because it's a pretty big deal 'round these parts--a beautiful but brutal course through our scenic country seems to be the siren's call that lures just about everybody i've known through the years.

this year, it was my baby sister megan who heeded the call--and we were wanting to support her, full force.


we went up to the north entrance of snow canyon to see her pass around mile 16:


we brought our signs with us, the most popular of which was this one:

(in my defense, it quotes mia when talking about megan's tiny baby cole, who was one thirsty guy. but it brought a resounding "ME TOO!" from more than one male runner.)




our friend, breque, was running that morning, too, and we realized that the sign would apply to her baby, zac:

(but we could NOT resist the photo opportunity with all THREE of her boys!)

we were so excited to see our megan--i was taking these while running behind her, so pardon the blur. i loved how madeleine ran with her for a few yards:

soon after megan passed, we spotted breque--


her boys were waiting up ahead for her, and this is one of my favorite photos from the day:

we saw a few other friends and loved ones.



mike, who was rocking the run:

darrin:

as well as made a few new ones--


as in the case of these two, who yelled, "why don't you want to take a picture of all THIS RIGHT HERE?"


so, of course, you know i had to:

and this gal right here, who stopped a few feet past me, turned back and asked, "is your name mindi?"

when i said yes, she said, "i read your blog!"


happiest day, ever. it tickled me to no end that she would have taken that moment in the middle of her personal hell (translation: 26.2 miles) to validate me.


you COMPLETE ME, monica:

we waited to see megan once more when she entered town at mile 24:

she was pretty beat, exhausted, emotionally spent, and OVER-HEATED:

but she still had a (semi) smile on her face. AND was able to give her devoted fans a few "high-fives":

our little trooper finished STRONG at 4:43.


amazing:

and she was the happiest girl in all the land:

tomorrow i'll post about the motivational posters we put up along the way for megan--

i quite liked them: (and i hope i don't break my arm patting myself on the back.)

ryan larkin KILLS IT as gene simmons.

gene simmons can break it down on the dance floor like nobody's business.

gene simmons can scale a rock-climbing wall in the blink of an eye.

gene simmons can make a grown man cry.

gene simmons can make a grown GORILLA cry.

gene simmons can love the ladies. (cuz the LADIES LOVE HIM!!!)

gene simmons can make you participate in YMCA.

and LIKE IT.

gene simmons can drive a miniature van.

and make it LOOK GOOD.